Please review Zeke’s grow tent size decision

M

Martin Jones

Member
Hello again everyone, my friend Zeke is a 1rst time grower… if you notice any mistakes in his thought process or how he wanted to proceed please offer constructive criticism… thank you. :lol:
Zeke decided that since there will be no chance in the future to really upgrade his equipment (Zeke is dead broke) that at the very LEAST he would have to purchase the correct grow tent, main lighting, and exhaust the first time around. This thread is concerned with tent size.

For the grow tent he was really conflicted on which size Secret Jardin he wanted. As the following page shows, the Secret Jardins come in all different sizes, but Zeke only needs to grow enough to keep a constant rotation of weed for himself (and a few lucky close friends) with no weed shortages. So he will probably need about 2 ounzes of weed a month in constant supply.

Secret Jardin sizes:
http://www.greners.com/grow-tents/secret-jardin.html

Zeke wanted to get the DR80 (bigger tents need more lighting):
http://www.greners.com/grow-tents/secret-jardin/secret-jardin-dark-room-grow-tent-dr80.html

The dimensions for the DR80 are: 31.5” X 31.5” X 63”

Zeke has seen some youtube videos of people growing in a DR80 and was trying to figure out how many females he could fit in the DR80 during the flowering stage. One video had a guy with 4 females in the 31.5” X 31.5” X 63” space and another video had a guy with more. Zeke is confused about the strategy on determining how many plants he can flower in the DR80. Here are the youtube videos of the DR80 in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfEiqvXR_Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWG1YOUmBfc

Please help Z decide on a tent size for his Secret Jardin! He wants to have the smallest tent to meet his needs and thought 31.5” X 31.5” X 63” might do the trick. Please keep in mind that he needs about 2 ounzes of herb monthly, but if he can get more in the DR80 no one is complaining!


Z Thanks everyone in advance!!! :leaf:
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
bigger? smaller? Zeke needs 2 oz of herbs a month and will be using 1 tent for vegetation and flowering... he might build it himself, but Z still needs a rough estimate on what size tent he will need to end up with.

thanks everyone for reading and sharing.
 
eyecandi

eyecandi

Well-Known Member
how will you take care of veg? will clones be supplied to you? important to know.

MJ is the most variable species on the planet. small/tall/fat/thin/lanky/fluffy/chunky/etc .... strains that yield 10grams off a single 3' indoor and strains that yield 3+oz off the same size. Strains that take 44days to finish, strains that take 16 weeks to finish. THIS determines yields + adequite light (aim for 50watts per square foot).

so I'll use an example of what you need to determine what fits for you.

take a plant like Skunk - average internode lengths, good bud structure - not loose, but not super dense. @ 60 days to harvest, you can rotate crops to harvest monthly. 4 of these will fit in that tent if in 3gal pots (bigger pots,bigger roots=bigger up top). if placing in 2 per month and harvesting 2 per month, you should yield min 1oz per plant (2 per month). with good light and practice, you can yield 2oz per plant. but LIGHT makes all the difference to harvest weights - HIDs produce denser buds .... but at the cost of heat, vent it with a good sealed hood (removes @ 70-75% thermal load)

if you can't veg in another area, consider creating a small chamber in the bottom, say 20" tall ... light it with flourescents and use to veg clones.

take clones off lower branches from generation going into flowering. clones root in @ 14days, veg for 14 more and ready to move up top after harvest .... rinse, cycle, repeat. :)
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
eyecandi said:
how will you take care of veg? will clones be supplied to you? important to know.

MJ is the most variable species on the planet. small/tall/fat/thin/lanky/fluffy/chunky/etc .... strains that yield 10grams off a single 3' indoor and strains that yield 3+oz off the same size. Strains that take 44days to finish, strains that take 16 weeks to finish. THIS determines yields + adequite light (aim for 50watts per square foot).

so I'll use an example of what you need to determine what fits for you.

take a plant like Skunk - average internode lengths, good bud structure - not loose, but not super dense. @ 60 days to harvest, you can rotate crops to harvest monthly. 4 of these will fit in that tent if in 3gal pots (bigger pots,bigger roots=bigger up top). if placing in 2 per month and harvesting 2 per month, you should yield min 1oz per plant (2 per month). with good light and practice, you can yield 2oz per plant. but LIGHT makes all the difference to harvest weights - HIDs produce denser buds .... but at the cost of heat, vent it with a good sealed hood (removes @ 70-75% thermal load)

if you can't veg in another area, consider creating a small chamber in the bottom, say 20" tall ... light it with flourescents and use to veg clones.

take clones off lower branches from generation going into flowering. clones root in @ 14days, veg for 14 more and ready to move up top after harvest .... rinse, cycle, repeat. :)
Click to expand...
----
flowering tent questions/remarks
-ok, so then if Zeke can fit 4 3gallon jugs in the flower tent with 31.5” X 31.5” X 63" dimensions then that should definitely give enough space to accommodate 2 oz per month with a lot more probably as he gets better and better. so Zeke has pretty much decided what dimensions his flowering tent will be (31.5” X 31.5” X 63"). thanks guys!
----
vegetation questions/remarks:
- Z was just going to vegetate and flower in the same tent, but he now sees the efficiency of having two tents where only plants ready to flower get moved and you don't have to flower all of them at the same time
- what would be the ideal size for a vegetation tent? it will def. be smaller than the flowering tent right?

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/items.asp?Cc=GR&Bc=
- the first two tents, the gl40 and the gl60 seem to have decent dimensions. gl40 has 16" X 16" X 47". gl60 has 24" X 24" X 63".
- what would be the perfecf size for a vegetating tent that takes care of everything except flowering. please keep in mind Zeke is looking to have 4 plants in the flower room at all times and the dimensions of his flowering tent will be roughly 31.5” X 31.5” X 63"

*also, Zeke was wondering if it is common practice to have 2 separate tents. one for vegetating and one for flowering. he is just curious as to what percentage of people just grow and flower in one tent and what % has two tents.

thanks everyone!
 
eyecandi

eyecandi

Well-Known Member
if cost and space is an issue, go with one tent, single grow (4 plants every 2 months ... clones/veg for @4-6weeks, switch to flower ... 2months harvest ... repeat) - but you won't get your perpretual harvest monthly and there will be times you go without (believe me, having 5oz for 3.5months among friends won't last).

my thoughts: 2 rooms, 1 veg, 1 flower (seperate veg/floewr rooms are standard for growers- with or without perpetual cycles. the need to either clone or grow from seed in a stable environment is important). either the GL40 or 60 will do fine, you can even make your own (I never bought tents until last year) using an old cabinet/dresser/box/fridge - just take out the drawers, cut off the faces and glue them to the front - the back panel is removed and hinges used to make it a door. inside you can use CFLs to keep a mom healthy and several clones going and ready. don't need much vertical space for mom/clones, so don't need the 63".

plant size = also variable. some strains stretch a lot, some don't. examples: Skunk doesn't stretch a whole lot, so if I place a girl in flowering at 20", she will finish under 40". strain like Big Bang though, put her in @ 20" and she will stretch to 50".
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
eyecandi said:
if cost and space is an issue, go with one tent, single grow (4 plants every 2 months ... clones/veg for @4-6weeks, switch to flower ... 2months harvest ... repeat) - but you won't get your perpretual harvest monthly and there will be times you go without (believe me, having 5oz for 3.5months among friends won't last).

my thoughts: 2 rooms, 1 veg, 1 flower (seperate veg/floewr rooms are standard for growers- with or without perpetual cycles. the need to either clone or grow from seed in a stable environment is important). either the GL40 or 60 will do fine, you can even make your own (I never bought tents until last year) using an old cabinet/dresser/box/fridge - just take out the drawers, cut off the faces and glue them to the front - the back panel is removed and hinges used to make it a door. inside you can use CFLs to keep a mom healthy and several clones going and ready. don't need much vertical space for mom/clones, so don't need the 63".

plant size = also variable. some strains stretch a lot, some don't. examples: Skunk doesn't stretch a whole lot, so if I place a girl in flowering at 20", she will finish under 40". strain like Big Bang though, put her in @ 20" and she will stretch to 50".
Click to expand...
Zeke plans to plant feminized seeds so how many germinated seeds do you think would be ideal to plant in the gl40 (16” X 16” X 47”)? What would be the maximum amount of plants he could vegetate in the gl40 at one time (16” X 16” X 47”)?


Also, can you please recommend a CFL setup Zeke could use in the gl40? A lot of the CFLs they are selling on BGH are too big for that 16” X 16” X 47” tent. Thank you for all the help everyone!
 
eyecandi

eyecandi

Well-Known Member
fem seeds aren't always all girls, so read this article to give a better % http://www.1stmarijuanagrowerspage.com/how-to-improve-female-male-ratio-of-cannabis-plant.html

again, plant Strain determines what works for you. research grows and strains to see what works for you. CFLs ... vertically hung 2'&4' flourescents (like T-5s), 100/125/150w CFLs (the large ones, need a mogul base, but runs off straight 120v).


if you are doing Fem seeds, might as well do AutoFlower strains, avoid the veg tent and just plant and grow until finished. check em out, might be ideal for what you want to do.
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
eyecandi said:
fem seeds aren't always all girls, so read this article to give a better % http://www.1stmarijuanagrowerspage.com/how-to-improve-female-male-ratio-of-cannabis-plant.html

again, plant Strain determines what works for you. research grows and strains to see what works for you. CFLs ... vertically hung 2'&4' flourescents (like T-5s), 100/125/150w CFLs (the large ones, need a mogul base, but runs off straight 120v).


if you are doing Fem seeds, might as well do AutoFlower strains, avoid the veg tent and just plant and grow until finished. check em out, might be ideal for what you want to do.
Click to expand...
thanks! but if Zeke went with a T5 floro lights and was AutoFlowering, when would he know which stage the plant is in so he could use the correct bulbs. Z wouldnt want to still be using grow bulbs when the plant needs the flowering light bulbs.
 
eyecandi

eyecandi

Well-Known Member
if using only the one tent for everything, no need for T5s (unless you want to, or want extra side lighting), just go with the HID you already planned on for the single tent. if you pick up an HID. plants will flower with both HPS and MH bulbs - there are differences in the end product though - HPS produces denser bud structure, MH produces more THC (in the MH bulbs, they produce UVB, which is shown to increase THC content ... not be much though). so you can use either/or. other option: use a Digital Ballast - these can use both bulb types, so you can swap when the first flowers show.
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
eyecandi said:
if using only the one tent for everything, no need for T5s (unless you want to, or want extra side lighting), just go with the HID you already planned on for the single tent. if you pick up an HID. plants will flower with both HPS and MH bulbs - there are differences in the end product though - HPS produces denser bud structure, MH produces more THC (in the MH bulbs, they produce UVB, which is shown to increase THC content ... not be much though). so you can use either/or. other option: use a Digital Ballast - these can use both bulb types, so you can swap when the first flowers show.
Click to expand...
Z wanted to use t5 floros because it gets real hot upstairs even with AC on during summers. he has no way to vent to outside of house via ducting because he doesnt feel like putting holes in the walls of the house. so t5s low running temp (he can just exhaust filtered air to the room in which tent is in) and that t5s have given floros some real respect in the lighting world made the decision easy for Zeke

obviously HID HPS would be better for flowering, but t5s are good enough Zeke would imagine

so then... just switch to flowering light bulbs when the first flowers appear?

thanks again and Zeke will read the guide you provided!
 
M

Martin Jones

Member
cost is an issue, so 1 tent and keeping things real simple with autoflowering is a good thing for Zeke (he might do traditional growing in the future who knows?)

anyway, he decided on these lights or something similar so please let him know what you think.

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/customkititems.asp?kc=HLIFT5NW28&eq=

the floor space of the tent is 2.625' X 2.625' = 6.89 sq ft X 3 = 20.67 thousand lumens needed

bgh claims that a single 2' t5 bulb outputs 2500 lumens so 2500 X 8 = 20 thousand lumens

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HLIFT5B2R&eq=&Tp=
check the above link to see info about 1 bulb having 2500 lumens
 
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